Darienne

I have a box of pure creamed coconut. It was left at the farm last summer by a Grenadian-born cook who cooked for us for a weekend (yumm!). I put it into the freezer and just took it out yesterday to put in the fridge. It has no expiration date on it and no nutritional chart. It is 'manufactured' in the UK by KTC (Edibles). It's in one 200gm block. Do you think it's still good? Has anyone heard of this brand?

I use citric acid when making hard tack lollipops to give them a sour/tart flavor.

Oh yes. The center of my right palm actually hurt by evening the day of the massive chopping spree.

It was just a trial run and I realize that I could have chopped the almonds smaller. It won't be perfect, but they were straight out of the freezer and that's not too bad. Also the pieces look larger in the photo than they actually are. Mommy wants a new camera with a macro lens.

It would take me a while to duplicate your 'pans I use all the time' list, but I found it very interesting. I make confections, ganaches, etc, and couldn't do without my 1/2, 1 and 2 litre sauce pans.

Is there something which I could offer to do? Night-times are probably still pretty much out for me and I can't guarantee to attend any evening events. Never mind. I'm still over the moon. What can I do? I can wash dishes, etc during the day and NOT get in the way. What can I bring? I have lots of chocolate tools. I have a small Revolation 1. Lots of confectionery books. My sole specialty would be ice cream I think. Not too practical. And candied stuff. I'll think on it.

Decided yesterday to buy a few different brands of what is called 'coconut milk' on all three brands that I ended up with. OK. Past that there is much difference in them, the first noticeable difference is the caloric information. Globe: 1/2 cup = 40 calories; cheapest, 1st ingred. water, then coconut milk (24%); fat 3.5 g. Rooster: 1/2 cup = 100 calories; a few more cents; 1st ingred. coconut milk (no % given; fat 5 gm Aroy-D: 1/2 cup = 160 calories; most expensive; 1st ingred. coconut milk (55%); fat 17 gm Strangely, Rooster has 25 iron, the others 0%. The cheapest has 1 gm sugar, the more expensive ones 0 gm sugar Now some recipes call for full-fat coconut milk. QUESTION: what percentage fat is full fat coconut milk. Most recipes just call for coconut milk. Period. Etc. Am I looking at the equivalent of skim, 2%, 5% milk? Last year I made coconut milk ice cream without paying any attention to the %s. Didn't realize how significant they were. I'm going to make ice cream in the next day or so and will use the Aroy-D brand, the fullest fat milk. Any comments are gratefully received. Do keep in mind that I live outside a small, provincial (literally and figuratively) town in which you can never get Kumquats. Ever. Thanks.

Hooray for us. I am so looking forward to this. And I am over the moon that once again I can stand and walk and actually attend an event. :wub:

Of course. First big smile of the day. I mean to photograph my breakfast...but oops! I ate it first. Smoked salmon with two scrambled eggs, scrambled by me for me. Not by DH, who is a great cook, but I like my own scrambled eggs exclusively.

And just who is going to complain about the nicks and smudges and refuse to eat them?

And I am also a fan of second-hand and yard sales too. Not a great selection often, but it's amazing what we have found over the years...including yesterday. (However, I did buy a set of special pots just for my use with chocolate and confections. NO ONE else gets to use them. )

I see that Google has you listed as an olive oil geek. Interesting. And what kind(s)/brand(s) of olive oil do you use, please?

I know very little about this topic, but one thing I do know from traumatic experience: when you forget take the dill out of the chicken soup, which your Aunt has told you to do, the soup will taste overwhelmingly of dill the next day, which your husband will remark rather carelessly to you the next lunch, and if you are then 8 months pregnant with your third child, you might throw the much-dilled bowl of soup at his head. Which I did. About 44 years ago. And neither of us ever forgot.

I know, I know, it's a bit early to be thinking of ice cream, but I found this wondrous recipe for Lebanese Milk Ice Cream which includes both rose and orange water. I really need to make it and soon. It was on 'Always Order Dessert' a blog. I found a few interesting ice cream blogs the other day: The Ice Cream Fellow, Scoopalicious, Japanese Ice Cream, Ice Cream Geek Blog (well, haven't been there yet), and The Ice Cream Forum. No doubt there are dozens of others.

We're in the city again tomorrow. I'll look. Thanks. p.s. The 'city' being Peterborough. p.p.s. No they don't have one, and I read the reviews of the nut chopper and so many of them were downright scary that I think I'll pass on this one.

Canadian Tire was originally just an auto store. Then they added more and more and more, including kitchen wares of all kinds. Now believe it or not, they are going to add groceries. It was announced in the newspaper a few days ago. So, this morning in the city, we went to Value Village and there it was, a mini-processor for $4.99. I bought it. I'll still keep an eye out for something more suitable at yard sales which in this frozen north don't start until late spring I think. Thanks.

Thanks Andie. Needless to say these are not available on Amazon.ca (Canada). Invariably, the prices for the same items on Amazon.ca are much higher than the prices on Amazon.com (USA). T'was ever thus, as others have already pointed out. It's the second-hand store for me...well, for Ed. He frequents them while I'm at various appointments in the city.

Thanks Kerry. Did not find that topic because it was in 'Pastry and Baking' and of course I looked in 'Kitchen Consumer'. Now to look in the second-hand stores for either an old fashioned nut chopper or a little food processor.

Interesting, or rather distressing. The 'old' one was metal and glass...the 'new' one is plastic, and therefore will break more easily.

I put the word 'nut' into the search in Kitchen Consumer and found only two unrelated headings. It seemed safe. Can anyone point out the recent thread?

Unless there are some really good nut choppers out there that haven't been mentioned so far, I'll probably spring for a small food processor. I'll get my DH to look at the local second-hand stores. They're the sort of thing that people get and then get rid of...too small to be of much use really.

Thanks all for the information and suggestions. Perhaps I wasn't very clear about what it was I wanted. I don't want to grind the nuts, just chop them into small pieces.

Good Heavens, sir! They are beautiful. Today I gave away chocolate-coated toffee in which the chocolate had come away from the toffee. Now that is cause for embarrassment...if I were so inclined.

Chopping nuts this morning in my latest style Pampered Chef Food Chopper which I got at a second-hand store in Moab, I thought my arms (used both hands) would fall off before I managed to get the ruddy almonds chopped finely enough. What do other folks use for nut chopping. My food processor is way too large. (I was chopping one cup of a few different kinds for a breakfast dish called "nutolla", a sort of granola without grains and sweetener.) I suppose I could try the Bullet which someone gave me which is somewhere in my life. Never could get the 'hang' of the thing. What about finding one of those one-cup food processors? I had one and gave it away because it was so small. Never thought of nuts. And I was much younger then and could pound away on the chopper handle with no problem. What to do?

My feelings exactly !